Condor - Puma - Serpent

Cuzco is amazing! After the frenzy of big metropoles like Lima and Rio this is an oasis of peace, culture and history. I love every single bit of it - the old cobbled streets, the omnipresent Inka culture (textiles, ceramics, jewelry etc), local people who are dressed in the most amazing national clothes and ladies wearing the most enviable beatuiful top hats.

Machu Picchu, as you may have heard, is closed. So not the most fortunate time of visiting Cuzco. Howwver, everyone who is here seems to be happy with the situation - this area has so much to offer and you can always come back to MP. (And the off-season offers three more things: 1) less tourists, 2) lower prices, 3) because of the frequent rain - everything is so much greener!! )

Spent all day today on a Sacred Valley Tour, visiting Inca ruins and local rural villages and their Sunday markets. I´ve been waiting for this moment for SO long, that again am in tears - this time of positive emotions and excitement.

p.s. Condor, Puma and Serpent are the three worlds in Inka philosophy.

Day 2
Afraid Im going to repeat myself - Cuzco and its surroundings are still amazing, Im falling in love with it more and more! (And even after having spent the last 3 huors repairing a car on our way back from visiting one of the valleys)

Also, am thoroughly enjoying the new backpackers place and rhythm. As everyone already warned me, Im indeed meeting so many new people! You could almost do without a Lonely Planet guide as everyone shares their experiences and gives tips. Love it! Its also comforting to see that there are so many other people traveling in the same way.

Tomorrow Im going to visit the local Potato Park which is run by a Cuzco organisation Andes, supported by IIED. Amara - a young and talented Geman journalsit who is writing about this area for the German Geo magazine and with whom Im sharing the dorms - will join us.Hopefully the weather tomorrow will stay as untypically beautiful and sunny for this rainy season as it has been over the last two days!!

(Of course, there could be very much said bout the local Inca culture and ruins, textile producton and farming, local habits etc... But that seems like such a long story that I will save it for another time. The main thing - it´s just so enjoyable!!!)

Lima

I've only been in Lima for one little day, so what can I possibly say?

It's definitely been a tough one - both physically and emotionally. Physically, because back in London in the craziness of booking this whole trip I didnt pay attention to my departure times. So this (and lukcily its the only one) flight earlier in the morning from Rio to Lima departed at 6 AM, which meant I had to be at the aiport at 3.30 am, which is why I thought I'd skip the night at the hotel and in order not to risk huge traffic and missing the flight altogether, arrived at the airport already at midnight and spent the night there. Wasnt lots of fun but at least didnt miss my flight!

So arriving at 10 am in Lima, + 30 outside, city seems even bigger and noiser than Rio. The hostel receptionist tells me to take the bus to the centre, but a nice Peruvian lady met on the street advises by no means not to travel by bus by myself - take the taxi instead! The other hostel guest met at the reception says he's seen other people almost robbed and himself being unpleasantly approached. But there are about 20 taxi companies cruising the unorganised streets - and only one third of them are official not posing you the risk of being violently attacked during your ride. Best thing to do is leave all your personal belongings at the hotel, which I do, but can't leave one thing behind which is meant to be the centre of my trip - the camera!! I hide it in a linen ' No to Climate Change' bag from COP 16 and take the risk.

Me having slept just a few hours and with the lingering feeling of being robbed any second I hit the downtown Lima but can't relax and enjoy city fully if constantly have to look around for danger and dont give yourself away as a tourist (very hard to do).

After a couple of hours at the central square and cathedral, i finally break down - it's hot, Im hungry and thirsty, the city is chaotic, noone speaks English, cars driving madly.... Fair enough, I didnt even give Lima a chance as arrived so tired and unprepared in the first place - so I'm sure its much better, I just didnt find the secret.

When almost close to tears, I remember one thing - which very possibly could save me from this city center madness! L'eau Vive - a quiet restaurant in a monastery run by French catholic nuns! Why would I go there? - because believe it or not but I met their 'Main sister/ Director' on the plane on my way into Lima, as we were sitting next to each other. As we started chatting (in French!!!) she saw my Lonely Planet book, briefly looked through it and opened the page where her Mission/ restaurant is named among 5 other recommended central Lima eateries! Couldnt believe my eyes - but she said if I happen to be in the neighbourhood, I should drop by.

Well i did and could really use a helpful hand and from whom better than a nun! I rang the door bell at the huge mansion wooden door, was luckily let in and soon met my Sister Marie-Jeanette. She was happy to see me again, in return I got some food, water, nice words and encouragament (as far as my French understanding goes) and a personally picked taxi for me to get back to the hostel (if you do it as a tourist, the price will be at least triple).

Leaving for Cuzco tomorrow morning, but before that - a nice chatty evening with cold white wine and the newly met American girls who'll also be exploring this part of South America for the next month.

(ps the night with American girls Bevan and Julie turned out to be a real success - it would be easier to incude topics that we DIDNt talk about. But we did cover NLP and Derren Brown´s mind reading, hobbies and starting up your own business, the right shape of eyebrows and more ....

Rio

My first port of call, Rio de Janeiro ....

As many of you know, I didnt initially plan to come here but the journey was cheaper this way rather than flying to Lima directly. So I thought Id stop in Rio just for a couple of days.

It ended up being a very good start to the Big trip - met local people, made friends with other travellers, explored and started liking the backpackers routine (cheap acommodation, communal areas for breakfast and dinner, and a very laid back attitude).

However, the city istelf was very hard to get friends with in those very short 2 days.. The pure size of it, amount of people, noise and dirt, poverty and safety issues... For someone (me) who has mostly travelled in French Riviera and Norwegian fjords, this is quite a lot to take in in the first two days. But this is exactly why Im doing this trip!

Everyone knows that Rio is famous for its beaches, samba and beautiful vistas from either Pao de Acucar or Cristo Redentor. The two days that Im here, however, are cloudy and overcastt, so there is even no point in going up there. So funnily enough, my Rio highlights are quite untypical.

Firstly, for the very first time I saw the ants-that-cut-out-leaves-and-

carry-them-on-their-baks in real life! I know, this sounds a rather odd highlight for a city like Rio, but those of you who know me (tree hugger/ nature lover) will understand - it ws fascinating to see this amazing routine which I had previously only admired at Zoos and National Geographic videos..

Secondly, when all the official 3 hour tours to the favelas (Rio slums) were sold out, the very friendly hostel owner German Andreas hooked me up with his friend who gave me a very private tour of a smaller favela close to city center, but an equally harsh and realistic one. Narrow dirty streets, tiny dark apartments, children out on the streets all day long and if you´re lucky - no drug dealers with guns in their hands. Alejandro - the guide - took me to his friends hotel and Jazzbar at the top of the favela which appeared to be one of the coolest places in the city! Not only did it have a grande open terrace overlooking all of Rio, but it has also hosted video shootings for Snoop Dog and the like. (For those interested, watch Snoop Dog and Farell´s ´Beautiful´ and pay attention to the entry scenes - the name of the Jazzbar is The Maze and you wont miss it).

Oh, yes - and the third highlight - the best Caiparinha on the Copacabana beach at 11 am. How cool is that, Rio?

Up in the Air

The last hugs and kisses and farewell tears, and thats it - Im on my way around the world... As I make my way towards the plane, the last few meters are as usual laid out with HSBC ads. Only this time it couldnt have been more to the point - it features big photos of a traveller´s backpack, asking - will it bring you Fear? Adventure? or Debt? I almost feel like in Big Brother - how did they know that I will be starting my trip now and here and will be having similar thoughts running through my head? ... Either way, I just hope that I´ll stick to Adventure :)

A few hours into flight and it seems that just everything around me hints about about travelling, friendship and leaving home... Not sure whether it was a good idea to watch the latest G Clooney movie "Up in the air" - essentially an ironic, grown-up version of Love Actually - arguing that the most precious thing that we have in our lives is the people we love. .. It did of course bring back some of those farewell tears, but also made me realise how happy I am - to have my loved ones back at home cheering for me!

Somehow my movie selection isnt going very well - the British movie ´An Education´ features a schoolkid in the 50´s who says he´ll take a year off before Uni to go travelling and is therefore called a ´Teddyboy´ (for anyone interested, the Teddyboy emerged in the 1950s as Britain was coming to the end of post-war austerity and represented the first face of British youth culture). Well, how lucky am I to be living in 2010!

12 hours later we finally land in Rio. By the time I make it to the hotel, its late and dark, and its so hot and humid outside that even the pages of my Lonely Planet have gone into wrinkles, not even talking about my hair... Well, that´s what travelling is all about!